Family Style Menus

One of the big trends for catering is family style menus. They're perfect for any size wedding or event, and can help get your guests talking.

The concept behind family style service is that each table gets large plates. The guests serve themselves from these big dishes, much like they would at home.

Family style service has been popular in restaurants for years, and it's now becoming seen much more often in event catering. It can give your guests a chance to interact in a way they might not otherwise. By asking each other to pass dishes, it can quickly break the ice.

It can also give you a simpler service than serving each guest individually, and it can allow you to put out fewer dishes than in a buffet. It can also speed up service so you don't have the last served waiting for ages while everyone else is chowing down.

Do you think a family style service is right for you? Get in touch today to discuss family style menus for your San Diego wedding!

A menu to fit your theme

We love creating special menus to fit a couple’s wedding theme. We’ve had great fun coming up with a baseball themed menu for one couple last year.

The two baseball fans, Julie and Keith, had their wedding at the beautiful Diamond View Tower Ultimate Skybox that features a lovely view of the San Diego ballpark stadium and downtown, and our food was inspired by some ballpark favorites.

Of course, it wasn’t all hot dogs and peanuts. We gave them a top quality meal that wasn’t out of place in the venue.

Whatever your theme, there’s a perfect menu to match. One of the best parts of planning a wedding menu is talking to the couple to find out more about what they love and what they want for their special day.

Of course, you don’t need to match your food to your theme. A rustic wedding can have a sushi bar, and a black tie night of glamor can include sliders. The important thing is that it’s what you and your fiancé want for your day.

If you’re planning a San Diego wedding, get in touch with us today to discuss how we can help make your perfect menu.

How to Choose a Wedding Menu

So you’ve worked out what dishes you’d like to offer the guests at your wedding reception and you’ve even managed to get all of your courses within budget.  But have you given any thought to the design and look of the menus that you need to place on the tables so that your guests can choose from the available options?

Menu by www.cherishpaperie.com

It’s generally best for the menus to fit in with the table decor and it’s easy to make them add style.  Here are our tips on getting them right:

1. Think about the size of the tables before you decide to put a menu in front of every guest.  Unless your tables are huge, the menus will just end up cluttering them up when the dishes are served.  One menu for every two guests is fine.
2. Rather than laying them out flat, try rolling them up as scrolls and securing them with a pretty ribbon.  Alternatively, ask someone with origami skills to turn them into paper sculptures!
3. If your budget is really tight, you could have the menus printed in a large format and have one per table, pinned to the centerpiece.  Or make them smaller and fit them in photo frames as a nice way to share around.
4. Don’t ruin your clean line look with lots of card and paper.  Combine your place cards and menus into one.
5. Even if the rest of your table decor is elaborate, keep the font type and size on your menus legible.  Nobody wants to be straining to read the dessert options!

Give us a call and let's discuss your wedding food options.

Ideas for Fabulous Wedding Desserts

It has to be said, one of the favorite parts of any wedding menu is dessert.  For some, the appetizer and main meal are just a build-up to something that they hope will be delicious, tantalizing and exciting.

If you want a dessert on your wedding menu that gets people talking, we have some ideas for you:

• A retro-inspired dessert that will take you back to childhood days – examples are chocolate pudding cakes and coconut cakes.
• Offering a range of indulgent and gorgeous fruit pies, perhaps as a buffet option .
  
• Chic' presented truffles, presented on a plate – the filling is up to you!
• A selection of mini cupcakes, with exquisitely piped icing and glitter, per guest
• Having a chocolate-infused dessert bar that includes cookies, brownies and a gooey chocolate cake.

Desserts are also easy to theme.  If you want romantic, vintage, fun and zesty or even icing that spells out your favourite movie or where you first met, just go for it.

If it is dessert that really gets you excited, speak to us about how we can make an impact on your wedding menu.

Top Wedding Food Trends

A San Diego wedding most often boasts a wedding cake.  But what about other trendy food ideas?  After all, this is a once in a lifetime day and you want to make a great first impression, right?

Cocktail weddings are on the rise, late-night snacks and really local menu ideas are here to stay.  So how will you make a splash at your wedding?

Here are 3 top wedding food trends to consider:

MAD MEN INSPIRED COCKTAILS

Re-think a sit-down reception dinner and go for more of a cocktail party, inspired by the cocktail hour era of the 1950s and 60s. Serve old-school cocktails (like gin and tonics and whiskey sours), hire a live big band (or ask your DJ to stick to the classics), and order up a menu of heavy hors d'oeuvres and food stations.

FAMILY STYLE TABLE SERVICE

 Give your sit-down dinner reception more of a dinner party vibe by having dinner passed family-style. So instead of plated meals, each dish is passed around the table for guests to help themselves.

LATE NIGHT BITE

Just as the evening is nearing the end, surprise guests with a late-night snack. Treat everyone to milk and cookies, hire a taco cart, or serve cheese and fruit as a special treat before sending guests on their way.

Authentic Flavors has plenty of catering ideas that will make your San Diego wedding truly memorable and unique.  Give us a call, and let's chat about your upcoming event.

How to Match Food to a Wedding Theme

Wouldn’t you agree that a great wedding celebration has great food?  Not only that but the style of the menu should make sense with the style of the wedding.   Here are a few tips on how to match your wedding food to the theme of your wedding:

• Traditional Wedding – Serve traditional; Think filet mignon, roasted asparagus, and red bliss potatoes.

• Modern Wedding - Think creative and contemporary cuisine.  Food stations work particularly well for this type of reception, as it allows you to offer your guests an eclectic selection of your favorite foods, whether you love Asian-fusion, heirloom bacon, or sushi

• Casual Wedding - Opt for down-home favorites, with an emphasis on comfort foods. A buffet style or family service works best for very informal receptions. You could have a mashed potato bar, mac and cheese shooters, chicken fried steak, fried green tomatoes, etc.  Perhaps bring in a family favorite recipe. 

Matching the style of the wedding food to the location is important.  You wouldn’t go to a five star restaurant expecting to be served chicken nuggets.  The same holds true for a wedding reception.  Serve food appropriate to the theme of your wedding and everyone will leave happy.